Ivory Latta
Number12
PositionPoint guard
Height5 ft
Height in6
Weight lbs138
Birth dateSeptember 25, 1984 (age 41)
Birth placeMcConnells, South Carolina, U.S.
High schoolYork Comprehensive
(York, South Carolina)
CollegeNorth Carolina (2003–2007)
Draft leagueWNBA
Draft year2007
Draft round1
Draft pick11
Draft teamDetroit Shock
Career start2007
Career end2017
Team 1Detroit Shock
Years 22007–2008
Team 2Elitzur Holon
Years 3–
Team 3Atlanta Dream
Years 42008–2009
Team 4Ceyhan Belediyesi
Years 52009–2010
Team 5Mersin BŞB
Years 6–
Team 6Tulsa Shock
Years 72011–2012
Team 7Tarsus Belediye
Years 82013
Team 8Maccabi Ramat Hen
Years 9–
Team 9Washington Mystics
Years 102015–2016
Team 10Edirne Belediyesi Edirnespor
Cyears 12013–2015
Cteam 1North Carolina (assistant)
Highlights
Wnba profileivory_latta

Ivory Latta (born September 25, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player.[1] She was drafted 11th overall by the Detroit Shock in the 2007 WNBA Draft. A 5-foot 6-inch (1.68-metre) guard noted for her three-point shooting and on-court enthusiasm, she played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. She is the all-time leading scorer in South Carolina high school basketball history (men's and women's) with a total of 4,319 career points.[2]

Early life

Born in McConnells, South Carolina, Latta played for York Comprehensive High School in York, South Carolina, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2003 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored seventeen points, and earned MVP honors.[3][4]

College career

Latta was named the 2006 Player of the Year by ESPN.com,[5] USBWA, GballMag.com and Basketball Times National Player of the Year, Nancy Lieberman Award Winner as Point Guard of the Year (2006), Consensus All-American (2006), ACC Player of the Year (2006), ACC Tournament MVP (2005), WBCA National Player for the Month of March (2005), All-ACC First Team (2007, 2005), AP All-American Third Team (2005), ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year (2004), All-ACC Second Team (2004), All-ACC Freshmen Team (2004).[2] Latta averaged 14.0 points per game as a freshman, 16.2 as a senior, and 16.6 for her career at North Carolina.

College statistics

Source[6]

YearTeamGPPointsFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
2003–04North Carolina3143336.234.778.02.83.51.90.114.0
2004–05North Carolina3459242.039.786.32.74.31.70.217.4
2005–06North Carolina3564545.540.185.22.15.22.30.118.4
2006–07North Carolina3861541.140.285.52.14.21.60.116.2
CareerNorth Carolina138228541.438.984.02.44.31.90.116.6

Professional career

Latta was drafted by the Detroit Shock with the 11th pick in the 2007 WNBA draft. She averaged 3.0 points per game as a rookie, and had the second-best 3-point field goal percentage in the WNBA for the 2007 regular season.[2] Latta appeared in her first WNBA Finals during her rookie season with the Shock, where they lost in 5 games to the Phoenix Mercury. On February 6, 2008, Latta was traded to the Atlanta Dream for the Dream's 2008 second round pick and LaToya Thomas.[2][7] She played for Ceyhan in Turkey during the 2008–09 WNBA off-season.[8] She was originally released by the Atlanta Dream at the start of the 2009 WNBA season, but then signed on July 3, 2009, after the Dream released Nikki Teasley instead.[9]

Latta played for the Tulsa Shock from 2010 to 2012, and joined the Washington Mystics in 2013. In 2013, she was selected to the WNBA All-Star Game for the first time. In 2014, Latta was selected as an all-star replacement for the injured Elena Delle Donne, making it her second all-star game appearance.

In July 2016, Latta suffered a left knee injury during practice at the Verizon Center that would sideline her for the rest of the season after playing 22 games.[10]

In 2017, Latta was healthy and played all 34 games. The Mystics advanced past the second round for the first time in franchise history, but were swept by the Minnesota Lynx in the semi-finals.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007 | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 31 || 1 || 7.1 || .391 || .449 || .429 || 0.6 || 0.6 || 0.2 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 3.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2008 | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 34 || 31 || 28.2 || .362|| .344 || .802 || 2.1 || 3.6 || 1.3 || 0.0 || 1.7 || 11.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009 | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 24 || 0 || 14.6 || .409 || .360 || .826 || 0.7 || 1.4 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 6.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010 | style="text-align:left;"| Tulsa | 18 || 16 || 28.7 || .422 || .370 || .776 || 1.4 || 3.9 || 1.0 || 0.1 || 2.1 || 12.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011 | style="text-align:left;"| Tulsa | 24 || 24 || 28.5 || .414 || .351 || .830 || 2.0 || 3.2 || 1.2 || 0.0 || 2.8 || 12.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2012 | style="text-align:left;"| Tulsa | 34 || 18 || 28.3 || .430 || .390 || .840 || 2.2 || 3.3 || 0.9 || 0.0 || 2.1 || 14.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2013 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 34 || 34 || 31.5 || .392 || .396 || .902 || 2.6 || 4.4 || 0.8 || 0.0 || 1.8 || 13.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 34 || 33 || 31.7 || .395 || .377 || .833 || 2.4 || 3.3 || 0.7 || 0.0 || 1.9 || 12.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2015 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 34 || 25 || 27.3 || .406 || .389 || .909 || 1.8 || 2.6 || 0.6 || 0.0 || 1.7 || 13.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2016 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 22 || 2 || 20.8 || .331 || .305 || .909 || 1.7 || 1.9 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.4 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 34 || 1 || 17.0 || .349 || .328 || .871 || 0.8 || 1.7 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 0.8 || 8.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"|11 years, 4 teams | 323 || 185 || 24.2 || .393 || .369 || .848 || 1.7 || 2.7 || 0.8 || 0.0 || 1.7 || 10.7

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007 | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 10 || 0 || 4.7 || .263 || .333 || .667 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 0.0 || 0.2 || 1.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009 | style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta | 2 || 2 || 37.5 || .400 || .333 || .889 || 2.0 || 2.5 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 1.5 || 13.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2013 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 3 || 3 || 31.3 || .484 || .400 || .500 || 4.0 || 3.0 || 0.6 || 0.0 || 2.0 || 12.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 2 || 2 || 37.1 || .357 || .333 || 1.000 || 1.5 || 4.5 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 3.0 || 17.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2015 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 3 || 3 || 31.5 || .400 || .524 || .818 || 1.3 || 4.3 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 1.3 || 16.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 3 || 0 || 9.2 || .467 || .444 || .000 || 0.7 || 0.7 || 0.0|| 0.0 || 0.3 || 6.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"|6 years, 3 teams | 23 || 10 || 17.9 || .399 || .402 || .795 || 1.2 || 1.8 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 8.0

European career

Personal life

On January 9, 2003, a resolution was read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Representative John Spratt[11] honoring Latta. She would also receive the key to the city of York, South Carolina (where she attended high school and Spratt's hometown),[11][12] which celebrated Ivory Latta Day on January 10, 2003.[13]

Latta's father and paternal grandmother both live with Parkinson's disease and she has been very outspoken about how her father's diagnosis impacted her.[14] As a result, Latta serves as an ambassador for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF).[15] In this role, she is involved with fundraising campaigns for PDF and generating awareness about Parkinson's disease, and enlists other professional athletes to support the cause.[14]

Latta's friendships with NBA superstar LeBron James and actor/rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges have been well documented.[5]

Awards and honors

Notes

  1. ^ "WNBA Player Movement Central". WNBA.com – Official Site of the WNBA
  2. ^ "official bio". Archived from the original on July 18, 2008.
  3. ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
  4. ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Team MVP's". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
  5. ^ "Lieberman: Five Final Four observations". ESPN.com. March 22, 2007.
  6. ^ "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved 23 Sep 2015.
  7. ^ "Atlanta's expansion draft trades/analysis". Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
  8. ^ "WNBA.com: Offseason 2008–09: Overseas Roster". www.wnba.com
  9. ^ "Long-range shooting reason for Latta's return"
  10. ^ Lee, Albert (July 20, 2016). "Ivory Latta injures knee". Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Representative John Spratt, Proudly Serving the People of the 5th District of South Carolina". Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  12. ^ "Gball Online Magazine: Q & A". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2009.
  14. ^ Spain, Sarah (April 26, 2012). "Shock's Latta hopes for turnaround". ESPN. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  15. ^ "Latta to Become Parkinson's Ambassador". TarHeelBlue.com. University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved 19 February 2012.